Court: Conditional discharge for man over ‘cuffing’ of trick or treater

Magistrates have conditionally discharged a 35-year-old man who assaulted an 11 year old boy who was out trick or treating at Hallowe’en in Boston.
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Paul Wood, prosecuting at Boston Magistrates Court on December 1, said that the 11 year-old boy was out with friends at around 5pm on October 31 when one of his friends, who had been riding a scooter, stopped to tie his shoelaces.

He said the boy accidentally fell into Aivars Wilmans of Cotton Road, Boston, who was passing by them and was ‘the worse for wear for drink’.

He said the boy apologised and they walked on but Wilmans started shouting at them and walked and then ran after them, slipping over in the process.

He said he chased the boy round a car shouting ‘It’s your fault, it’s your fault’ and it was seen he had a rip in his trousers. Mr Wood said Wilmans shook the boy, saying ‘Look what you did’ and was also seen to swing his arms in a way that a witness described as ‘cuffing’ him and was seen ‘to make contact with the boy’s face and body’ but he was left with no injuries.

He said police arrived and Wilmans was arrested. He pleaded guilty to assault by beating.

Mitigating, Philippa Chatterton said there were ‘two sides to every story’ and he had not been asked by the police to give his version of events.

She said he accepted he grabbed the boy and there was a tussle but at no time did he strike him, although there ‘may have been contact’.

She said he also alleged one of the boys swore at him in Russian.

The magistrates said there had been some provocation but it was ‘not the right thing to do to chase after a child’, and conditionally discharged him for a year. He was also ordered to pay £107 in court costs and charges but no order for compensation was made.